Msingi East Africa

Established in 2016, Msingi is an independent, multi-decade organisation that is building East African industries of the future. They are taking a new approach to driving economic transformation and prosperity in East Africa that is:  -Ambitious and long-term – achieving deep industry transformation in selected high potential industries; and set up as a multi-decade organisation rather than a time-bound programme to enable this. -Flexible and holistic – utilising an adaptive combination of support driven by the different needs of each focus industry, including investment where additional.  -Focused on innovation – including support to technology upgrading, technical capabilities and innovative collaborations, e.g. international joint ventures; and bringing in world-class experts to ensure globally competitive solutions.  -Industry-led – working where there are credible pioneer firms, using strong private sector expertise, and partnering with others where appropriate. -Independent – unbiased by political influence but proactively engaging and partnering with government where needed to achieve long-term competitiveness. Through their approach Msingi aims to make a significant contribution to the structural transformation of East Africa’s economies driving the creation of jobs and creating prosperity in the form of additional income in East Africa. Vision: Widespread and lasting prosperity in East Africa Mission: To generate a step-change in competitiveness and innovation, driving significant structural transformation and growth that benefits low income sections of society Transformational growth in high potential industries Msingi will enable transformational growth in its focus industries by building:  -Competitiveness – enabling growth and long-term viability of the industry by maintaining and improving its position in the global market, relative productivity and ability to create value-added.  -Resilience – enabling the industry to continue to function effectively and respond to threats and opportunities once Msingi and other development actors exit.  -Inclusiveness – supporting the adoption of business models that enable as many people to benefit as possible – to the extent this does not negatively impact competitiveness. Industry Prioritisation Msingi’s industry prioritisation team conducts rigorous analysis to identify high potential industries in various sectors across the region. Engaging closely with industry players, industry advisors, and the investment community – the team is continuously developing a pipeline of interesting industries that can create sustainable impact, while driving competitiveness and the long-term transformation of East African economies. Their approach will balance the potential for impact, likelihood of success and cost/effort required to identify the most effective industries for achieving large-scale impact.   Industry Vision and Strategy Development A bespoke industry strategy is developed for each industry which guides Msingi’s activities to catalyse growth. These strategies are guided by their long-term vision for the industry, robust diagnosis of the needs of each industry, and engagement with both the industry and government. Ownership of the strategy by industry is required over the long-term for sustainable transformation. Their strategies will be flexible with on-going adaptation as they learn through doing and in response to changes in the industry or external environment.  Implementation Specific activities will be driven by the unique industry strategies developed for each programme. However, in each industry programme, Msingi will provide: -Pioneer firm support – e.g. on technology upgrading, management capability building and securing finance. Msingi is able to invest itself when the desired funding cannot be secured from third parties, or where there is a compelling strategic reason to do so.  -Wider industry development support – to the industry’s rules (e.g. policy and regulation) and functions (e.g. inputs, services, training, coordination of industry players and market information). Msingi will ensure that they are proactively crowding others in to ensure that all critical roles in an industry are performed fully by permanent industry players once it exits.  Aquaculture was picked as the first focus industry in 2016 and its expected that a second focus industry will be picked in late 2017.